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"Hope is mixed into the blood of every human being, everywhere and in every time."

A Nightmare of Violence and Terror, Jessica Holland interviews Hassan Blasim - Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics

From Codex Seraphinianus by Luigi Serafini (1981)

“The outrage that has emerged since the tape of Sterling’s remarks was first made public seems to betray a kind of willful collective naïveté. Our public shock suggests a belief that the views expressed by Sterling are out of the ordinary—despite the evidence indicating otherwise, despite the visible disparities between races in every meaningful statistic, despite the protestations of those who are subjected to the dictates of race in this country.”

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A sampling of Angela Meyer’s sterling collection of micro-fictions, Captives (out this week through Inkerman & Blunt), is now readable at Google Books.

“It seems to have been largely forgotten, but in 2010 the federal Labor government released the 12-year National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children. It was adopted by the Council of Australian Governments the following year, and assumed by the Abbott government when it took power. The minister for social services, Kevin Andrews, “retains overall responsibility for national plan policy and program”, according to a spokesperson.

You wouldn’t know it. In his six months as minister, Andrews hasn’t touched the issue. Not one speech, opinion piece or media release about the plan. I put it to Andrews’ office that there was a serious lack of commitment, and predictably received this pabulum in response: “We are committed to ensuring that the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children 2010-2022 continues to be implemented and its programs are properly resourced and effective. Where appropriate, they will be augmented with new initiatives that can provide cost-effective, practical ways to address violence against women.”

The Abbott Government is not a tough-love government. It is a loveless government.  Time and time again we are reminded that this is a government that values its purse over its people, and the below bottom-line motivation to negotiate a solution to the epidemic that is violence against women floors me anew.  

“Rather than attacking the institution of masculinity itself, several recent campaigns have attempted a sort of masculinity triage, trying to eliminate violence against women, while still flattering men with the label of protector. These campaigns, such as “real men don’t buy girls,” “my strength isn’t for hurting,” are various incarnations of “how would you feel if someone said that to your mother /sister /girlfriend,”and have proven to be enormously popular, achieving prodigious re-blogs, conferences, and media airtime.

They are, by many metrics, successful, and have gotten institutions long silent on the rights of women to speak up. I believe we are the better for them, but I also believe that they do not go far enough, and we all must, as feminists, radicals and progressives, push against our comfort zones.

In these campaigns, the masculine mystique is still very present, albeit a kinder, gentler version. By flattering men’s strength and asking them to use it to protect women, we once again place men in the driver’s seat of culture, asking for them to renounce violence and be less vile guardians.”